Thanksgiving Fun for Kids

This is one of my favorite Thanksgiving activities -- an orange pomander.

I remember making one for my Great Aunt Doris, keeper of the turkey, when I was a kid.  Last year we made a few and just kept them around the house to make it smell like yummy winter holidays.  Pomanders are fragrant mixtures of spices and fruit.  Historically, pomanders were fragrant spices kept inside a metal or ceramic ball.  These were worn on a chain around the neck or waist to ward off bad smells and disease.  The most common in the U.S. today, the orange pomander, is very simple and smells absolutely delicious for weeks.  Though, I would not recommend wearing it and would not suggest it would ward off disease (but who knows).  However, it is cheery and easy to make with kids of different ages!  

To make your orange pomander, you will need:

·        An orange

·        ½ cup of whole cloves

·        24 inches of ribbon

·        a poker (a nail, a skewer, a pencil, etcetera)

·        a thimble (optional)

Directions:

·        Wash your orange to remove any fruit wax

·        Mark a line around your orange as if to cut it into quarters

·        Poke holes about ¼ inch deep into the orange either randomly or in a pattern

o   Do small sections at a time.

o   Keep the holes close enough together so that the cloves will almost touch when inserted stem side down into the holes.

o   Do not poke holes into the lines you made – this area is for the ribbon.

o   If you have very young children, you can do the poking for them.  Older children, of course, can design their own and make the holes themselves.

·        Push cloves into the holes stem side down

o   This leaves the sharper parts out so you may want to use a thimble to keep your fingers from getting sore.

o   Any child old enough not to consume or stick cloves up their nose can push the cloves into the orange.

·        Wrap the ribbon around the orange both ways, tie in a knot at the top then make a loop and tie a second knot if you’d like to hang your pomander, or a bow if you’re going to set it on the table.

Orange pomanders take time to dry so if you’re going to try to give one of these away for an upcoming holiday make it a couple of weeks earlier than the holiday itself.  The orange will turn brown and kind of appear to be rotting – it is NOT rotting.  The oil from the cloves spreads throughout the peel making it brownish orange.  The entire orange will eventually dry and become very light weight.